So, you’ve started considering telemarketing? Or maybe you haven’t yet started to consider it but, you have heard competitors within your market are doing telemarketing and a couple of your business contacts have talked about it too. Perhaps you recognise that there may be some value in looking into this avenue as part of your sales and marketing activity but you’re wondering where it fits in your sales cycle and how you can justify it?
Naturally, when sales and marketing activity is executed together as an integrated process you are likely to see an increase in leads, especially the highly relevant leads which are easier to convert. There are now opportunities to integrate telemarketing within the whole sales funnel; starting from the awareness stage, right through to the evaluation stage.
But where does it fit?
The awareness stage
At the very start of a sales cycle we need to scope out the market, starting with data and market research so you and your target market can become aware of each other. Telemarketing can play an important role in data cleansing; checking your data lists are accurate, up to date and receptive to your offering. This process is extremely helpful in helping you shape your offering, your marketing campaigns and your approach to these leads. Without getting this process right, your lead generation can be far more time consuming and far less successful.
Adding value stage
During the sales cycle telemarketing compliments the nurturing marketing activity as a very effective touch point. It can be argued that telemarketing is one of the fastest lead generation tactics to identify and close leads. Having that human conversation to understand where someone is in the buying cycle, how you can help them and being able to easily answer their questions is something that will set you apart. As all these conversations are likely to be recorded (we record all of our calls), this is all extra data that can be documented to profile your customers, helping both your marketing and sales teams.
Follow-up stage
Follow up calls are a final important aspect of your sales cycle, that for many businesses are not conducted because they are delighted to have won the business and they are now running off to chase the next win. But if we truly complete the cycle, our new customer is perfectly placed to give us feedback on the process they have just experienced. This helps us not only shape this experience for future customers, but it also adds further value to your customers experience as they have a platform to discuss any concerns, or issues they may have.
So, if you’re considering if telemarketing could help your sales cycle in some way, the likely answer is yes. It can help in so many different aspects of the sales cycle, we’d be surprised if it didn’t compliment your current sales or marketing activity.
